Out Loud: Little Choice But to Cheat

In this week’s magazine, Rachel Aviv tells the story of how Parks Middle School, in Atlanta, became involved in the public-school cheating scandal that was uncovered in that city.

On this week’s podcast, Aviv joins Sasha Weiss, the literary editor of newyorker.com, to discuss how certain faculty members at Parks justified their decision to cheat, how high-stakes testing affects teachers and schools throughout the country, and how her background in writing about mental health connects to her interest in Parks’s story. In both medicine and education, Aviv says, data is treated as the final word: “There’s this sense that it’s more authoritative to convert someone’s teaching skills into numbers rather than just use one’s subjective judgment.”

You can subscribe to the Out Loud podcast on iTunes or via RSS. Click here for the latest episodes of all New Yorker podcasts.

The New Yorker offers a signature blend of news, culture, and the arts. It has been published since February 21, 1925.